Gerard Aldridge took up Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow’s challenge.
Now he wants the Romanow government to take up his.
The challenge involved Saskatchewan’s Agri-food Amendment Act, which was passed in the dying days of the most recent legislative session. It allows the change or dismantling of provincial marketing boards without a producer vote and gives the government final say in such decisions. It is widely believed the government was once considering doing away with SPI’s monopoly on provincial hog sales.
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Aldridge, the Liberal agriculture critic, said the premier offered advice to opposition MLAs as the bill moved through the house.
“In fact, it was more or less issued as a challenge to us, that we should actively consult producers in our constituencies on the issue of whether or not they wanted to maintain the right to ultimately vote on the fates of their provincial marketing boards,” he said.
So, Aldridge sent a survey to the 1,900 producers in his Thunder Creek constituency asking: “Do you support the principle of upholding the democratic rights of producers to ultimately vote on whether to eliminate or amend their marketing boards?”
About 200 producers replied, and 97 percent said they were in favor of keeping their right to vote.
He said the response puts the onus on the government to make changes to the act and repeal the portion that takes power away from producers.
Agriculture minister Eric Upshall maintains that producers do get a vote because they elect boards of directors who make the decisions.
But Aldridge said Upshall should have listened to his premier and surveyed producers himself.
“When the day is done he now possesses the ultimate power of deciding whether a board remains or whether it be changed significantly. It’s sort of like telling the fox you can close the henhouse door whenever you want.”
Aldridge also said his informal survey represents a good cross-section of the farming public because Thunder Creek is geographically large and contains 21 complete rural municipalities.
Gary Gader, who farms at Vanguard, said although he doesn’t use any provincial marketing boards he believes farmers should have a vote.
“The biggest one I use is the Canadian Wheat Board,” he said. “A vote is needed in any board that’s set up for agriculture.”
